They Thought It Worked… Until the Truth Revealed Itself

With a “zap”—no, it was a prolonged crackling sound produced by the continuous interaction of electric charges, echoing in the narrow space of the entrance.

Then, a dazzling, dark purple ray shot out from the muzzle of the electromagnetic gun held by the burly man in black.

In the blink of an eye, it struck the leather bag that Ye Qing had quickly raised in front of him.

With a “pop,” the electromagnetic projectile, upon hitting the leather bag wrapped around Nozomi, rapidly dispersed and then disappeared.

In mid-air, Ye Qing released his grip on the leather bag the instant before the projectile struck.

After the electric charge had dispersed and vanished, he quickly grabbed it again.

The moment he landed, he pushed off the ground again to increase the distance.

He retreated to in front of Fuzi and Yuxuan.

Ye Qing resolutely gripped the hilt of Nozomi, still wrapped in the leather bag, with one hand in a reverse grip.

He held the bagged Nozomi horizontally in front of him, slightly crouched his body, and planted his feet in a firm stance, ready to block another shot at any moment.

His eyes calmly observed every move of the men in black.

Seeing that Ye Qing had blocked the lightning-fast strike of the electromagnetic gun, the man in black did not show any surprise.

On the contrary, the corners of his mouth on his dark face curled up slightly.

Whether he was mocking, praising, or excited—because he was wearing sunglasses, it was impossible to tell his expression at that moment.

But he did not seem inclined to continue attacking.

He simply continued holding his gun, waiting for the inspector in front to draw blood.

Ye Qing breathed a sigh of relief internally.

‘The most important part is about to begin.’

As he thought this, he saw the man in black standing in front of Chenlian.

Still wearing a sinister, cold smile, he pointed the cone-shaped sharp weapon at Chenlian’s abdomen.

“No~! Ugh, ugh~!”

Fuzi, forcibly restrained by Lin Yuxuan, sobbed while desperately covering her own mouth, letting out an inaudible whimper.

With a very faint “squeak,” the tip of the cone pierced into Chenlian’s abdomen.

Time suddenly seemed to stand still.

Everything seemed to coordinate with this moment—so quiet it was terrifying.

In less than a second, the three watching from not far away watched helplessly as Chenlian seemed to lose all strength and fell forward powerlessly.

But she did not let out a single groan of pain.

She was just so quiet, like a robot that had lost its power.

Lacking any vitality, she collapsed to her knees.

To maintain his position relative to the cone, the man in black also knelt down.

He supported Chenlian’s suddenly limp, delicate body with one hand.

With the other hand, he took out a 100ml test tube from inside his clothes and placed it at the round end of the cone.

Before long, this small cone, like the fang of a vampire, had blood flowing out from Chenlian’s pierced abdomen.

Along the cone’s smooth, silver exterior, the blood flowed from the tip toward the end.

At the end, it gradually gathered into a large blood droplet.

Then, pulled by gravity, it fell into the 100ml test tube.

From about five meters away, the three watched the man in black kneeling motionless on the ground, supporting Chenlian’s body.

Although they could not see exactly what the man was doing behind Chenlian due to the angle, they all knew that the blood draw had begun.

All three could not help but pray internally, praying that this substitution would succeed.

One minute—that was how long the blood draw took.

Although it was very short, for the anxious and panicked three, it felt agonizingly long.

After completing the blood draw, the man in black pulled the cone out of Chenlian’s abdomen.

He gently laid Chenlian on the ground.

Then, holding the test tube filled with fresh blood, he stood up.

He casually flicked off a drop of blood stuck to the cone, then put it back inside his clothes.

The man in black showed a relaxed smile.

Although it was only for an instant, both Ye Qing and Lin Yuxuan saw it and understood it in their hearts.

‘Success!’

Ye Qing and Lin Yuxuan both made this judgment at the same time.

But their hearts were still in suspense.

They still did not dare to let their guard down, staring intently at the test tube filled with fresh blood.

Fuzi, meanwhile, held her breath nervously, watching intently.

Her tears slowed their flow.

Everyone fell silent, waiting for the judgment to begin.

The instant he turned around, the leading man in black erased all expression.

He jerked his chin at the burly man who had fired the gun.

He also shook the test tube filled with the freshly drawn blood in front of him.

The burly man in black nodded in understanding, then lowered his large gun.

He used his now-free right hand to touch the earpiece on his ear.

He tilted his head and spoke into the earpiece: “Tone!”

A very concise command.

Suddenly, another man in black wearing the same uniform, carrying a conical flask with a nozzle that had a capacity of about 250ml, came to the front of the leading man in black, just outside the villa.

The flask contained a light green liquid.

Under the sunlight, it refracted a faint green glow.

After taking the blood sample handed to him by the leading man in black, he picked up the conical flask containing the light green liquid with the nozzle.

He placed the nozzle opening at the mouth of the test tube.

He calmly and slowly pressed down on the nozzle.

A single drop of light green liquid flowed out of the nozzle and quickly fell into the fresh blood.

Because of resistance, it slowed its descent through the blood.

The green liquid traveled through the “sea of red” blood.

In the end, without any reaction, it settled at the bottom of the test tube, forming a clear separation between the green and red layers.

“Hah~”

Ye Qing unconsciously let out a breath.

Since there was no reaction, it meant success!

That green liquid was without a doubt a detection agent developed specifically for detecting mutated cells.

The detection agent that had just been added had no reaction throughout the entire process of falling into the blood.

Neither chemical nor physical—nothing happened at all.

That meant the test result was that she was not a Variant.

Chenlian had been determined to be a normal person!

Just as Ye Qing had speculated, the two burly men in black carrying the large electromagnetic guns and the man in black holding the sample and detection agent all withdrew from the villa.

The leading man in black turned back and said calmly to the four, “Sorry for the intrusion.”

Then he followed the others out of the entrance and closed the door.

With a soft “click” of the closing door, the three’s anxious hearts all dropped at once.

Lin Yuxuan, as if losing all strength, slowly knelt to the ground with an expression of disbelief, murmuring, “We… succeeded!?”

“Chenlian!”

Fuzi immediately rushed out, crouched down, and checked Chenlian’s condition.

Ye Qing also ran over.

Chenlian was lying on the floor of the entrance on her side, completely powerless, like a doll.

Her purple pupils looked calmly at Fuzi.

The blue-and-white lace dress had a tiny hole pierced through it, measured in millimeters.

The part of the dress around the hole was stained blood-red.

It had already dried into bloodstains stuck to the originally clean and pretty dress.

Peering into the small hole, one could see the tiny wound that had already stopped bleeding.

Fuzi picked Chenlian up and asked urgently, “Chenlian!

How do you feel?

Does it hurt?

If something isn’t right, tell Mom!”

But Chenlian just looked calmly at Fuzi.

Her pupils seemed to move slightly, but she did not speak.

‘Is she unable to speak?’

Just as Ye Qing was thinking this, Dr. Hadi’s usual calm voice came from behind.

“Fuzi!

Carry Chenlian to the sofa and let her rest.

She’ll be fine.

That was a paralytic.”

Hearing Dr. Hadi’s words, Fuzi, without a second thought, gently picked up Chenlian with her crying, reddened eyes and carried her to the living room.

Everyone gathered in the living room on the sofas and fell silent, waiting for Chenlian to recover.

Fuzi stroked Chenlian’s small head resting on her lap.

Lin Yuxuan sat beside Fuzi, watching Chenlian lying on Fuzi’s lap with concern.

Hadi and Ye Qing sat on the sofa across from the three women.

Ye Qing stroked the leather bag resting on his lap, which still had a faint burnt smell, and sighed.

Then he looked at Hadi and voiced the doubt in his heart.

“Dr. Hadi, why weren’t you there just now?”

The silent group all looked at Hadi, who had been questioned.

Hadi smiled softly and said calmly, “I was there the whole time.”

He pressed the communication watch on his right wrist.

Receiving the command, the communication watch projected a map outlined in blue lines into the air.

Countless red dots on the map were continuously moving outward.

Or rather, retreating?

Ye Qing was momentarily dumbfounded.

He could not help but ask Hadi in a confused voice, “Dr. Hadi!

How are you able to track them?

Those are police—”

Ye Qing’s words suddenly caught in his throat.

Because he had sensed a slight disturbance.

He fiercely glared out of the corner of his eye at a certain spot on the ceiling.

“Oh my!

I’ve been found!”

A somewhat surprised, sharp female voice suddenly rang out in the air.

Something transparent fell down from the ceiling—from the direction Ye Qing had noticed.

With a “da,” the soft sound of shoes hitting the floor.

Before everyone, a woman in revealing clothing materialized out of thin air in the living room.

She was wearing black micro-shorts and a strapless top the size of underwear.

On her yellow-toned, somewhat dark, long, pointed, oval-shaped face was a layer of not entirely human-like scales reflecting a silver glow.

Standing before everyone was a woman about 1.75 meters tall with a slender figure.

No, she was—

“A Variant!”

Ye Qing immediately grabbed the leather bag, raised it warily, and stood up.